Belt set (hook and buckle)

Composed of a hook and a buckle with identical designs on the front and a stud in the center of the concave base, this belt set is made of light-green hetian jade with a polished surface. The dragon's head on the hook was rendered with refined raised lines and incisions. On the face, two dragonets (young dragons), each carrying a branch of fungus in its mouth, appear in openwork relief. One dragonet is supported at eight points: one at the whiskers, four at the legs, one at the tail, and two at the fungi. The other dragonet has only seven: it lacks one fungus support point. The dragonets are arranged symmetrically, and their features are consistent. The design, especially the openwork, appears to have been executed with a manual spinning wheel.

Jade belt sets with hook and buckle developed from the single metal hook of early times. Exactly when they emerged remains uncertain. A Han jade buckle found in Henan had a rectangular plaque with a crescent opening; judging by several small holes around its edge, the buckle was probably sewed onto leather or fabric (Zgyqqj 1993, vol. 3, plate 194). Belts on official uniforms of the Tang period were made of leather and decorated with gold to which jade plaques were attached. Several jade sets, some with leather or gold accessories and others without any attachments, came to light in aristocrats' tombs in the Tang capital Xi'an. Among them one jade set consisting of fifteen plaques and one oval belt buckle exemplified a distinctive change: the hook, like the ancient style fashioned in the Central Plains area, had disappeared (Zgyqqj 1993, vol. 5, plate 5). By the Song period, leather belts were being covered with red or black textiles so that ornaments could be attached more easily. Yuan and Ming belts followed the Song style, covering belts with red or blue textiles and affixing ornaments of rhinoceros horn, jade, gold, and silver. The two ends of the belt were often joined by a flat jade plaque on a jade ring or slit, or one end was passed through a ring-shaped jade frame with a tongue. During the Qing period, belts for officials were made completely of textiles and were fastened by a jade plaque in the center with a jade ring on each side. The hook shape seen in this set was no longer used. Jade hook-and-buckle sets continued to be manufactured until the present, however, to preserve archaic styles.